California: The Great Exception

In 1949 lawyer historian and journalist Carey McWilliams stepped back to assess the state of California at the end of its first one hundred yearsits history population politics agriculture and social concerns. As he examined the reasons for the prodigious growth and productivity that have characterized California since the Gold Rush he praised the vitality of the new citizens who had come from all over the world to populate the state in a very short time. But he also made clear how brutally the new Californians dealt with “the Indian problem ” the water problem and the need for migrant labor to facilitate Californias massive and highly profitable agricultural industry. As we look back now on 150 years of statehood it is particularly useful to place the events of the past fifty years in the context of McWilliamss assessment in California: The Great Exception. Lewis Lapham has written a new foreword for this edition.